Ex-cop led I-70 chase in stolen Hummer
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post
DENVER, Colo. — A former lawman from Dodge City is accused of gunning down a bank teller. But this is a current crime, not a historical tale.
Christopher Tahah, 33, a former Dodge City, Kan., cop, was arrested in Kit Carson County on Friday after, authorities said, he stole a Hummer and led police on a chase across the Eastern Plains of Colorado. Upon his capture, Colorado officials learned Tahah was wanted on a Kansas murder warrant in the killing of his ex-girlfriend.
“I really don’t know of anything that happened in Dodge City’s folklore like this,” Dodge City manager Jeff Pederson said.
Tahah, who is being held in the Lincoln County jail in Hugo, had been sought for allegedly killing bank teller Erin L. Jones, 31, at her Dodge City home May 5, Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesman Kyle Smith said Sunday.
Jones was a community-theater actress who recently performed in the musical comedy “Wild Women Never Get the Blues” at the Homestead Theater in Dodge City.
“She was fun,” said the play’s writer and director, Jim Johnson. “She was a real sweet kid to work with. We were just absolutely stunned to hear what happened.”
Carol Wade, Jones’ mother, said Tahah came over to their house on Easter and was very kind and polite. Her daughter worked at the Bank of America in Dodge City and had a daughter and a son, ages 7 and 5 respectively, she said.
But Jones later told friends she was afraid of Tahah after she broke up with him shortly after Easter and thought he was stalking her, Wade said.
Her daughter was shot execution-style in the head, Wade said.
“It scares me to death he was even around here,” she said.
When Dodge City police learned that Tahah had been Jones’ boyfriend recently, they referred the case to the KBI, Pederson said.
“The police department should not investigate one of its own,” he said.
Pederson said that Tahah, who has been a police officer for about three years, was suspended May 5 when he became a suspect in Jones’ murder. He was fired Thursday.
The Colorado State Patrol became involved Friday after receiving a call from OnStar, the General Motors auto-monitoring service, about a stolen black 2003 Hummer.
Tahah allegedly stole the SUV in Denver and led police on a chase on eastbound Interstate 70, said Gilbert Mares, State Patrol spokesman.
CSP officers tried four times to use spikes that deflate tires and pulled Tahah over twice, but each time he either swerved around the spikes or sped off when officers approached the SUV.
Dodge City Councilman Richard Sowers said the police are supposed to protect citizens.
“It’s just so out of what you’d expect a police officer to act like,” he said Sunday. “It’s rather shocking.”
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